Honda never saw Lorenzo-Marquez as a dream team

While on paper Honda secured a 'dream team' line-up of champions by signing Jorge Lorenzo alongside Marc Marquez, the reality was it only went for Lorenzo as a last resort - in a far cry from Ducati's determined pursuit of him in 2016. In those circumstances, what chance of Lorenzo's awful current Honda form improving?

The 'dream team' moniker commonly used to refer to the pairing of Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo at Honda merely disguises the huge difference between three-time MotoGP champion Lorenzo's actual role and the one he had at previous team Ducati.

Lorenzo's run of form in mid-2016, when Ducati decided to try to prise him away from Yamaha, was diametrically opposite to the circumstances he found himself in this time last year - when the news of his shock switch to Honda emerged.